Are curses real? Ask any Tottenham supporter, and they may be inclined to answer
yes, because of the club’s long trophy drought. After all, the club hasn’t won any major trophies since 2008, so its no surprise that fans are starting to talk about a curse.
Even in UK football predictions provided by experts to help punters make informed bets, Tottenham are often not seen as favourites, especially in matches against other top teams. So, what could be behind the team’s string of such failures but a curse? Let’s find out.
Are Tottenham Cursed?
The 2016 league title shot. The 2019 Champions League Final. Spurs fans young
and old can count up the near misses. The last time that Spurs won silverware was
back in 2008, a 2-1 win over London rivals Chelsea in the League Cup Final.
So it’s edging towards two decades since that glorious afternoon out at Wembley
and for a club with such a rich heritage, fans don’t find it good enough.
Spurs were the first British side to win a UEFA club competition, and have won the
FA Cup eight times among their other honours. But still, they can’t shake that
‘cursed’ label because (the 1960s aside) the silverware has been too sporadic.
Competition Is High
Why aren’t the Spurs winning more? Well, the competition levels for one have got a
lot stiffer. Competing with even one club like Man City or Liverpool on top form is
hard enough, but it’s never as simple as taking on just one team for the Premier
League title.
When there is consistently a crop of three or four very strong teams in the Premier
League, it’s extraordinarily tough to break through. If there is one reason why Spurs
fans can feel cursed, then it’s simply down to competition.
They are surrounded by teams all trying to do the same thing, which is finding a
winning formula.
As only one team can win the Premier League per season, there are 19 other losers every campaign, so Spurs missing out often, has to be looked at in that context. It’s less common to win than to not win titles.
Injuries
Tottenham also get injuries just like every other club does. It’s part and parcel of
modern football that they have to manage. Sometimes injuries cruelly strike at the
wrong time before a big cup semi-final for example.
Other times it may be an entire clutch of players hitting the treatment table at once
that ruins form, which in turn sets title ambitions backwards. But this isn’t a Spurs
curse, it’s a modern football curse.
Financial Outlook
Tottenham don’t have the financial clout to compete with the likes of Liverpool and
Man City is when it comes to landing the best players in the world. For the 2024/25
season, Tottenham’s squad value was ranked fifth in the league behind Man City,
Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea.
So there is quality, and they spent €175.35m on the 2024/25 season transfers, which
was less than Chelsea, Man City, Man Utd, and Brighton. So Spurs have been
spending the cash, but not excessively and not on Mo Salah, Erling Haaland or
Vinicius Jr-esque star power.
But if any spending, even if that’s nothing more than to be a top-six team, doesn’t
yield current rewards, it makes their ‘curse’ seem worse. Besides, how many major
titles have Brighton won in the last twenty years? None.
Vision
Another part of why fans may feel like Spurs are cursed, it’s that they are a
London team and have, in the last 20 years, had to sit back and watch rivals Chelsea
and Arsenal fight for titles.
When it’s a rival doing well, that just makes their near misses that more bitter.
There’s also the club vision. Spurs are known for being conservative with the
chequebook and for playing an entertaining brand of the beautiful game, which
doesn’t necessarily mesh with being a winning brand.
Is There a Curse?
There have been some actual strange tales of soccer curses around, like Béla
Guttmann’s curse on Benfica, the Aaron Ramsey goal curse and the famous old
Romani Gypsy curse of St Andrews, the home of Birmingham City. But Spurs aren’t
cursed, at least no more than a whole host of top-flight clubs that continuously find
major titles to be out of reach as well.
